LED lighting is transforming the lighting industry, such that light products are no longer merely on/off devices, but have become sophisticated devices with more elaborate control options, made possible by the easy controllability of LEDs.
Some installations make use of networked dimmable luminaires. However, this requires a more involved wiring infrastructure.
There are therefore also many installations where fixed light output luminaires are fitted.
When a customer uses lighting modules to build luminaires, there is often a need to optimize the luminaire to their preference, without being restricted to a fixed light output, temperature or power. For instance, an optical design may require less light output from the module.
At present, many different types of LED luminaire are offered, via the trade channel, for installation in lighting projects. Different luminaires are set with different light outputs so that the installer can select the desired lighting effect, by ordering a required selection of different luminaires.
This means that the wholesale company and/or installer often must keep several types of more or less the same luminaires in stock in order to enable the desired amount of light to be output in every situation. This is undesired from a logistical point of view and leads to a larger total number of products that must be kept in stock in order to guarantee an orderly flow of products.
It has been recognized that it would be desirable for the customer (i.e. the installer) to be able to flexibly set the output current for non-dimmable installations. The problem needs to be overcome that luminaires with a fixed output cannot easily be adapted to a different (lower) light output setting when this is desired.
Current fixed output LED drivers can be configured to lower the output current (and therefore reduce the light flux from the luminaire) by making changes to the hardware. For example, the customer can apply a suitable current setting resistor to the driver. The driver then uses this component to define the output current. This requires skilled personnel and often extra time during installation.
An alternative to placing a current setting resistor in the driver is to have a remotely settable drive current, which involves wireless communication with the driver to program the driver. The drive current is then set by the driver and no additional components in the lighting module are required.
The disadvantage of this approach is that the portfolio of drivers needs to be upgraded. This portfolio consists of many driver types (fixed output, dimming, DALI dimming, different housings, different power).
This means the implementation of the improved system will be slow and costly.
What is needed is therefore a simple way to alter the light output from a luminaire, but which can be used as a fixed light output device and does not have to be installed as part of a networked dimmable installation.